Tap water at a new public housing estate in Kwai Chung is dirty, authorities say. The water at Kwai Tsui Estate contains more heavy metals than is safe for people to drink. Heavy metals, like lead, mercury, and arsenic can build up in the body and can make you sick. It can even be deadly in greater amounts. Water trucks have been sent to the estate so that people have water that is safe to drink.

Democratic Party lawmakers Helena Wong Pik-wan and Andrew Wan Siu-kin said on Wednesday that four water samples taken from the estate were found to contain too much lead.

One sample from a flat in Luk Tsui House had 104 micrograms of lead per litre. The result is 10 times more than the World Health Organisation’s standard of 10 micrograms per litre.

Another sample from the same block had 16 micrograms per litre, while two samples from Bik Tsui House had 16 and 10 micrograms per litre.

The tests, which covered eight flats, were arranged after two people living in the estate complained to a district councillor, Ng Kim-sing, that the water coming out of their taps was cloudy. The findings led the Water Supplies Department and the Housing Department to do more tests for the affected flats of the estate, which opened in April and has 866 homes that can hold up to 2,400 people.

“We have already consulted the WSD earlier after receiving complaints from some of the residents, and they said the water [of Kwai Tsui Estate] was within safety limits … But our test results suggested the opposite,” said Ng on a radio programme yesterday.

A meeting for people living at the estate was due to be held yesterday evening, according to Ng. WSD officials were also scheduled to attend and explain to them what is going on.